Hearing Chen Xu's scolding, the Lord of Heaven shrugged with utter indifference.
“Your Excellency Chen Xu, if a renowned Great Sage, a powerhouse of the myriad worlds with remarkable achievements in various fields, came to assist you when you were at your lowest, would you refuse him?”
Back then, when the Lord of Heaven discovered the Divine Dao—the transcendent system that could save him and prevent him from suffering the same fate as Hell—it was the Great Sage who had approached him, offering his assistance.
This Great Sage was even willing to cast aside everything he already possessed to join the newly established Heavenly Pantheon all by himself, acting as an angel investor.
How could the Lord of Heaven at that time not be moved by such an act?
That was the Great Sage. Even without relying on his past reputation, the wealth of knowledge stored in his mind alone was enough for the Lord of Heaven to establish a pantheon and rapidly rise to the top tier.
And indeed, it had played out exactly that way. With the Great Sage's strategic planning, the Heavenly Pantheon had developed at a breakneck pace from its very inception.
Within an incredibly short period, it gathered a vast following of believers and left its mark across multiple worlds.
Heaven's doctrines, its ultimate goals, and its path of development were all designed by the Great Sage. It was precisely because of this that he had earned the Lord of Heaven's absolute trust.
Yes, the Great Sage had indeed screwed him over—or rather, deceived him—at this final moment. But before this, he had been the Lord of Heaven's most loyal deputy.
Of course, the Lord of Heaven knew the Great Sage might have some ulterior motive. However, after thousands, tens of thousands, millions, and even hundreds of millions of years had passed without incident, his guard had naturally lowered.
As the saying goes, one should judge a person by their actions, not their intentions. If someone plays the part of a good person for their entire life, then they are a good person.
Chen Xu did not care about the Lord of Heaven's response. His only goal was to buy time.
In the next instant, a beam of starlight cascaded from the heavens, enveloping both him and the Mother of Hell armor behind him.
Immediately after, Mana-Sealing Statues descended from the sky, as the power of the stars gathered entirely within Chen Xu's grasp.
A beam of starlight struck the Mother of Hell armor dead-on. When the light faded, the armor had vanished.
The Great Sage did not care about Chen Xu's minor maneuvers in the slightest. Instead, he clasped his hands behind his back, scanned the surroundings, and began to comment with great interest.
“An array that links the heavens and the stars, combined with the traits of gargoyles... Tsk, tsk. I must say, Your Excellency Chen Xu, you truly possess quite a bit of talent. To utilize the necrotic Dao principles you seized so smoothly, and to extract traits from biological entities with such ease—truly remarkable.”
“Alas, if only you had been born ten thousand years earlier—no, even a thousand years earlier—my plans might truly have been thwarted.”
“Heh, even now, your plan won't succeed.”
“Oh?”
Hearing this, the Great Sage's interest was piqued once more.
“From your tone, it seems you know what my plan is? If you are not in a hurry, why not tell me? Let us see how much of it you have guessed correctly.”
Chen Xu did not know where the Great Sage's confidence came from, but right now, he needed time to awaken the Void hidden within the Dao layer.
He had been forced to show himself earlier precisely because he feared the Great Sage would locate him and accidentally uncover the Void hidden in the Dao layer.
Since the Great Sage was offering an opportunity, Chen Xu naturally seized it.
“Your plan is nothing more than using the Mother of Hell's hand to collect the ultimate Dao principles of the six special worlds, and then fusing these six Dao principles into one.”
“Mhm.”
Hearing this, the Great Sage nodded, as if praising Chen Xu's deduction.
“And then? What happens after the six Dao principles are fused into one?”
“Afterward? Heh. Afterward, you will either use the mighty power of this six-in-one fusion to break through or catch a glimpse of the realm beyond the Unique Rank. Or, the sheer scale of this six-world, six-path grand feast will grant you a massive amount of ritual feedback, allowing you to achieve your ulterior motives.”
The moment Chen Xu finished speaking, the Great Sage burst into laughter.
“Hahaha! I am truly curious as to how you deduced all of this. Could it be that you, too, are a once-in-a-generation genius?”
“Is that so hard? You left books regarding rituals in the Truth Library yourself. I thought you were intentionally showing off, inviting others to enter the stage and contest the role with you.”
“Wait, the books in the Truth Library? The Role-Stealing Method?”
A rare look of surprise crossed the Great Sage's face.
“Indeed.”
“Alas, those whimsical creations of mine are truly unreliable, actually showing my personal manuscripts to others. Once I break through to the supreme realm, the first thing I will do is throw all that junk back into the furnace to be remade, lest they ruin my reputation.”
The Great Sage's response was also outside of Chen Xu's expectations. It turned out that obtaining the Sage's books from the Truth Library had been a complete accident.
Perhaps the intelligence of the Sage's creations was not high enough to grasp the Great Sage's underlying intent, or perhaps their intelligence was too high, and over the course of time, they had disobeyed the Sage's orders, allowing an outsider like Chen Xu to obtain the Sage's books and catch wind of his plans.
“But it matters not. Time is not on your side, Your Excellency Chen Xu.”
“If you were given another hundred years, or even just ten, the future might truly belong to you. Every once in a while, you display a completely new ability. It is simply astounding. Perhaps after I finish researching the one behind the source of the rituals, you, Your Excellency Chen Xu, will also make an excellent research subject.”
“Heh, is that so? Then I hope you live long enough to see it. I wonder if your math is any good, Sage. Even assuming the Lord of Heaven is on your side, given the number of people on our side, you two would still have to fight seven or eight opponents each.”
Hearing this, the Lord of Heaven immediately sheathed his Holy Light Greatsword, threw up his hands, shrugged, and walked backward.
“My objective has already been achieved. As for him, since he has renounced his status as a priest, he is no longer one of my people. I want no part in what happens next. Solve it among yourselves.”
With that, he transformed into a beam of holy light, departing this six-in-one composite world and returning to the Heavenly Expeditionary Force.
Then, with a wave of his hand, he issued the order to retreat.
Heaven was gone, and the Lord of Heaven was no longer a world ruler. He was certainly not going to draw fire for the Great Sage.
Once he returned to the new Heaven and bathed in faith, he, the Lord of Heaven, would still be the ruler of this era, the foremost figure of the Divine Dao.
Furthermore, having slain the Mother of Hell and destroyed Hell, this achievement was more than enough to elevate his pantheon to greater heights.
The Great Sage did not intervene in the Lord of Heaven's departure. He merely sighed with a look of regret.
“You see, Your Excellency Chen Xu, this is the short-sightedness of special worlds. Back then, they were mindlessly carried to the Unique Rank by an astral behemoth, yet they lacked the vision and breadth of mind to match it. This is why, despite being naturally powerful existences, so few true powerhouses emerge from these worlds. They are not like humans. Their desires are too shallow. Without a desire bordering on madness like that of humans, it is impossible to climb upward and pursue the truth.”
Having said that, the Great Sage glanced at Chen Xu again, then turned his head to look at the Hunyuan Dao Lord beside him.
“Hunyuan Immortal, you and I are old acquaintances. I know you and I are of the same breed. Now that the opportunity to reach the supreme realm lies right before us, do you not wish to join me?”
The Hunyuan Dao Lord did not reply, but the struggling expression on his face spoke volumes.
The Great Sage did not say anything to the Dao Lords of the Martial path. Hell had dealt too severe a blow to the Martial path; he knew they could never be won over as allies.
As for the Yokai path, a smug smile suddenly appeared on the Great Sage's face.
“Your Excellency Dragon Emperor, and Your Excellency Blood-Crimson Qilin, I have a piece of classified information concerning the Calamity of the Beasts back then. I wonder if you are interested. If you depart right now, I can share it with you.”
The moment these words were spoken, an almost imperceptible trace of panic flashed through the Black Tortoise's eyes.
On the other hand, the Dragon Emperor and the blood-crimson Qilin indeed looked quite intrigued.
However, Chen Xu did not give the Great Sage any further opportunity to divide their ranks. The best way to deal with an old fossil like this was to act like a hothead and blow the whole thing sky-high right in his face.
“Great Sage!”
Chen Xu suddenly shouted, drawing the Great Sage's attention.
In the next instant, the earth began to tremble as a grayish-black light erupted from the ground.
This sudden anomaly, along with the incredibly terrifying aura, caused the Great Sage's calm expression to finally falter.
“What did you do?”
Chen Xu spread his arms wide, raising them to shoulder level, and spoke with absolute arrogance.
“Nothing much. I just want to flip the table on you.”
“Roar!!!”
A dragon's roar echoed from the world's Dao layer, reverberating throughout this entire world.
Simultaneously, a wave of talent energy surged from Chen Xu's soul and entered the Void's body.
【007 Talent triggered. Obtained effect: Business War Terminator (The more high-end a business war is, the more simple and unadorned it tends to be. And the most unadorned method is none other than physically eliminating the opponent). The Void has obtained a special enhancement: World Terminator.】
Rate on N.U.
